River Crossing Puzzle

As part of my daily internet wanderings, I found this quite interesting logic game. It’s similar to the chicken/grain/fox across the river puzzle we’ve probably all tried our hands at before, but with the difficulty apparently ramped up.

Simply put, you need to get all 7 people across the river. You’ve got a mom, dad, two daughters, two sons, a guard, and a criminal. (Edit: Sadly now aware that equals *eight* people.) How this group got together may be better left for another game but of course, it’s not as simple as you would expect.

Since the game is all in Chinese, here’s the basic rules:
* 1. The raft can carry only 2 people.
* 2. The father can not be left with any of the daughters unless the mother is present.
* 3. The mother can not be left with any of the sons unless the father is present.
* 4. The criminal can not stay with any family member unless the guard is present.
* 5. Only the father, mother, and guard know how to use the raft.

I got far enough to get 5 people across but then of course, I got stuck, and quit out of frustration. I’ll get you some day logic puzzle!